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The Champagne Series - Sam and Georgia Ellis - Everflyht Vineyard

• Lucy Black • Season 2 • Episode 4

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In this fourth episode of The Champagne Series sponsored by Everflyht Vineyard 🥂 Sam Ellis – serial entrepreneur and her beautiful daughter; female founder and wellness enthusiast @georgia.ellis_joined me on #BrightIAM podcast couch.

Sam and her husband run and own @everflyht vineyard in Sussex, our series sponsor – we’ve been sipping the beautiful gold award winning English sparkling wine and so it was time to hear the story behind its creation.

We reflected on the unique challenges facing women who are building a business whilst caring for children and also how coming from an entrepreneurial family can make dreams seem more possible.

From how a vineyard was dreamed up whilst stranded abroad to a new wellbeing centre opening in Sussex soon this light hearted and transparent episode has it all. 

Pour a glass, sit back and enjoy a conversation between Lucy Black @lucyblack_official and mother and daughter duo – Sam and Georgia.

This is 🎙️BrightIAM - The Champagne Series 🥂 

The Champagne Series is a bold, unfiltered podcast where powerful women
come to tell the truth and share their stories - not the polished versions, the
real ones.

Set in a beautiful, high-energy space, each conversation blends
honesty, humour, and depth as we uncover the stories behind the success, the
struggles no one saw, and the moments that changed everything. It’s a celebration of self-expression, resilience, and women who chose to do life on their own terms - with a glass of champagne (or non-alcoholic alternative) in hand and nothing held back.

Filmed at The Podcast Room Brighton

SPEAKER_01

Hello, and welcome back to the Champagne series. And I am joined here today with the mother and daughter duo from Everflight Vineyard. We've got Georgia and Sam. Thank you so much for coming and seeing us today. Thank you so much for having us. It's really lush. It's so exciting. And actually, we've already been having a little chat. I mean, this is how it goes. Talking, buzzing around. And I know that, Georgia, you aren't actually working at the Vineyards. You've got your own business. You're an entrepreneur in your own right. So I think to start with, we're just going to concentrate on Everflight because you've kindly sponsored this series and we have all been sat here and people have been watching, enjoying your beautiful bubbles. And you've had an award.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, we literally just received it two days ago. It's the International Wine and Spirits Award and the London Wine Fair and our Couve, which we are drinking at the moment. Cheers, cheers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Let's do a little check. Well, cheers, cheers.

SPEAKER_00

We've um oh, sorry. Yes, we've um it won a gold award for English sparkling uh multi-vintage. Right. And then it walked away with the trophy as well. So technically, we're the best English sparkling multi-vintage white in the UK. Okay, look at it. It is not sure how I'm gonna fit it on the bottle.

SPEAKER_01

I'll figure it out. We're gonna have to do some abbreviations. But ultimately, I mean your vineyard, I've been there, we've done filming with you, we've hosted events, it's glorious. But you're very small, actually, as far as um vineyards go. You're not as big as, say, Bolney or Chapelown, and you've won this award.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it's amazing. We've tried for it a couple of years, but obviously wasn't our time. Our Rose de Signo is also another one that's done really well, but never quite got that gold award. Oh, I love it. I think it's because the vines are just older, more mature now. It's actually our 10-year anniversary this year as well.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So we planted our vines back in 2016. Right. So it's yeah, officially 10 years this May.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, see, this is sensational. So I suppose people who um I mean, I don't understand much. I drink enough wine, but I don't know how I was made.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that's how I started it. This is like I drunk far too much of it. Weirdly, my husband thought that it would be cheaper for him to like set up uh a vineyard than uh keep supplying me in bubbles. I love that.

SPEAKER_01

So you bought what happened then? Talk us through that, Sam, because it's so interesting. You bought the land, how did it all work out 10 years ago?

SPEAKER_00

Um, well, we've always uh my husband and I are both planners by training, and we've always wanted to build our own house. That has always been one of our top priorities. Right. Um but oh gosh, well, you know when the Icelandic volcano was uh gosh, that was a good how old are you? So you goodness, ages ago now. Yeah, so you were like eight or something like that. You were tiny, um, and we got stuck over in Thailand. So I had this amazing idea that rather than try and get home with everyone else, we'd go back round the other way. So we went and ended up in the Margaret Valley River in um Perth. So we were doing the tour, kids were tiny, you were literally eight, five, and three, or something like that. We were stuck abroad, and I was wagging around with these vineyards, tasting all this wine, and obviously it's like must have been at least 25 years ago. And I tried this 100% Chardonnay Australian sparkling wine, and I was like, wow, this is amazing. How can this is not from champagne? How is it possible? It just shows you how naive I was at the time. I would have been the same, yes, yeah. So, and then I came home and I was like, after we managed to get home, after we've been away for six weeks and you know, finally got home, I was like, well, let's have a look, and then I decided to have a look into it and see. And there is these vineyards who have been incredibly pioneering and had planted back in the 1970s, and because of various factors, including climate change, unfortunately, but also changes in clones and like the vines that you can actually plant in cooler climates, we were doing really well. The English sparkling was really coming up, and I was like, this is really something we're interested in.

SPEAKER_01

And it was basically right at the start of it then, because I remember this, and I remember being told that it's the chalk in this Sussex area, the chalk soil. Yes, and anybody who got on it 10 years ago has is now producing this beautiful bike.

SPEAKER_00

Well, interestingly, yes, that is correct, because the scene from the chalk in France pops up, goes under the channel, and pops back up under the South Towns. So there's a whole seam of it. So it's you're on the very similar terroir as you are as in France in the Champagne region. Right. Um, the interesting thing is that a lot of ours is actually on clay, but we planted our Pinot on the clay, and that has done extremely well. And I've always been a massive fan of the Pinot, the Pinot Noir, the Pinot Runier. Okay. I think they're really um amazing grapes. I've always really enjoyed the bubbles that they give. Um, so interestingly, but then when we did the second phase of planting, which was back in the early 20 2023, I think it was 21. Um, you went back over there and we hit the chalk theme. So we have the peanut picosa and the peanut grit all on the on the chalk screen, on the old chalk theme. And actually, it really does make a difference. It does really affect the the wine. It's really interesting to see that. We've got complete contrast.

SPEAKER_01

So you've come back then, Sam. I'm trying to get in my head. So you've come back, you've tasted these wines, you've arrived back in the UK. And did you have to buy a plot of land? And that's when you wanted to build your house.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we were in living in Lewis. Um we were very happy living in Lewis, um, and but then we were just we always wanted to build this house. So we an lovely friend of ours, an architect, he did a few bit of door knocking, found this site, um, and it was these old barns, it also came with this land. Um we were like, oh gosh, this is the opportunity we can actually do both. We're gonna try and do both. And this is where you are now in Ditchling, which is the venue I've been to. Yeah, so right at the bottom, literally at the foot of the beacon at the foot of the South Dams. Yeah. So yeah, it's a beautiful location. Really, really love it.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, you know, I love it, and this is why we're here and we're recording these um sessions, is it's entrepreneurial thinking. And I think what we're is a common theme that keeps popping up is sometimes ideas hit you almost by mistake. So you're you know, you couldn't travel, you had to go the other way, you're trying this wine. I want to do this, and then everything collides and and happens. Yeah, it's beautiful. So you've won a gold award. Um, you've also opened up a second premises that's uh a venue babble in Hove, is that right?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, that's right. My husband, along with Bison Beer and um Vicarious, which has got Kim Francis. Uh, we set up the we went the council built the new indoor bowls. Well, it's outdoor balls, isn't it? And they had a bar at the top, and we went together with a bid, and we went for went for the to open it with buy some beer, and we've done it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so you've done that with buy some beer. Now that's interesting. And I was just gonna say to you, so we'll obviously I've created this um series, the champagne series, and it's not champagne, it's English sparkling, but it's better than champagne, in my opinion. And actually, you've got your gold award, so there's the proof. Um, and then I was talking to um the lovely Dan here who runs the podcast um Rooms Brighton, and I was saying, well, maybe I need to do like the whiskey sessions for the boys, but maybe it's the buy some beers. Oh, you should definitely get there in there greatly. Let's have a little chat to them. There's paging for no no, it's specifically all the men. Oh, that's all right. This is it, because I've actually got this mad beautiful network, including you guys, of these gorgeous entrepreneurial, forward-thinking, wonderful women, but I also know a lot of fellas who do much the same. So I think we're gonna have to beer them up. Yeah. I think so. Yeah, that's good. That's the plan. Yeah, okay, so wonderful. And then Georgia, you've been born into this entrepreneurial family. How old are you now, sweet? I'm 23, 24 next week. Are you? Oh, we've got a birthday next week.

SPEAKER_02

We've got a gold award, we've got a birthday anniversary.

SPEAKER_01

Tell us your story then, Georgia, because like I've said to the people listening, the viewers here, it will you've you're an entrepreneur yourself. So, how did um what happened to you when you left school? Let's let's go from there.

SPEAKER_02

So I was in the year of COVID. So unfortunately, I left school quite prematurely.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I never actually took my A levels, it was like accumulation of all of my mocks and my like past exams, which was all right. Um, but I managed to get into university, went to the University of Reading. Okay, nice. Um, but I was meant to have like this big gap here where I was travelling, was gonna go island hopping around Greece and all of that kind of stuff, which I never actually managed to do due to the on and off lockdowns. Yeah, okay. But I was actually really grateful that I had that time. I was working in a bar, I was like, well, not obviously during lockdown in between. Um, but it really gave me this state of like, right, what do I want to do? Like my dad was already trying to drill in this entrepreneurial summer. Okay, yeah. So we would have weekly meetings. I mean, that's good. Yeah, litchy and our orangey, we would have a drink, and then he'd be like, right, what kind of ideas are you thinking? And I was like, not really sure, not really sure. And he goes, What about we've got all of these grapes here? Why don't you make a jam and stuff like this? So he was on the right track to try and get you at it. I love the thought, but I'm unsure I really want to do that. I don't want to be the jam lady.

SPEAKER_00

He came up with a name, didn't he?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he was because he calls me juju because it's just shortened. I don't know why, but it's called Juju Juice. And he was like, Right, I want you to make this jam, and he really clung on to it. And I was like, maybe not, maybe not. But then um, then actually, because he got me that thinking, the cog started turning and I looked at the world a little bit different. And I was like, look, I don't actually have to go down this one path, yeah, like that most people can go down. And I was like, what do I really find interesting? And I really started to fall in love with wellness. Okay. And everything to do with it, like I was really into my meditation, my movement, just making sure I felt good on the inside so that I can portray myself the best I possibly can. So then I basically started thinking about it and I approached Dad uh literally right before I went to university, and I was like, Okay, I would love to just open up this space because I was looking, I was like, I want a gym that has like this wellness aspect to it. And it was just when saunas and ice baths were like slightly taking off, yeah, but they were not connected to gyms at all. They were very like your mind and body are very, very separate. Yeah. I was like, I really want a place where I can just do that and just be there, one membership, just go to sing. And I used to I pitched it to my dad and was like, I love that, I love that. And I was like, but at that time, I was what, I was 18, yeah, very fresh out of school. I was very like, well, not right now, but it's a really good idea. I'm gonna keep it in the back of my head. Right. Ended up going to university doing film and theatre. I was gonna ask what you did. Okay, film and theatre. Film and theatre, which I did really like, but I well during it, maybe my second year, I was like, maybe it's not for me. Like I loved the organization of it. I was always trying to go for the producer role, trying to like organise the shoots, all of that kind of stuff. Um, but then I was just like, I'm not really, my heart's not fully in it. So then I left, I left uni. I was like, what do I do now? Okay, so you completed your degree. So you did see it from I didn't see it through. That wasn't in it, wasn't there? Yeah, it was in there.

SPEAKER_01

I know lots of people because it's that age. And if you're not doing something that you can see yourself actually working in in the future, you can't blame people who you go su who go off you know on a tangent, but you did complete your degree. Yeah, completely.

SPEAKER_00

I actually had a sit down and I was like, well, I'm unsure if I want to. And I said you don't have to go back. If it doesn't feel right, then I'm not gonna we we're not gonna make you and actually it was a really good decision to do because it just took the pressure off you. Yeah, and it took you the pressure off you, and you're like, actually, I've got two thirds through. I'm gonna finish it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I think being two-thirds through, just that other little push to get it across the line. Yeah. Oh wow, so when did you finish that degree, Georgia?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I finished, oh my goodness, what two, three years ago? Okay, my corporate time goes so quick. Honey, wait until you're my age. Jeez, yeah. Um, but yeah, so I graduated from that, which is really, really good. I love the graduation. Good. And then I was like, what do I do next? And I was like, I kind of missed that travelling part of my gap year. So I was like, you know what? Me and my friend decided to go to Australia for two months. Beautiful, yeah. So we were very lucky. So I worked all of summer, managed to go to Australia. I was like, what can I do when I'm out there? And this is when Pilates was really coming out of its shell. So here in the UK, like, no shade for the UK Pilates once before, but I love a very fast-paced, very dynamic. I love that. Yeah, so more power so that there's weights involved. And I was trying to find that here, and I couldn't find many. And so then I went to Australia, they were ahead of the game on that point. So I was like, why not get my Pilates instructor qualification out there while I'm travelling? Might as well. Might as well.

SPEAKER_01

What was your teacher like? Did you have a nice big nice? No, no, shame.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not doing no, I was in a relationship, so I was very like first still out. But I was basically like, there was these women and they were so strong, so empowering, very like, I thought I was Pilates fit. Then I went out there and their 5 a.m. starts, and wow, it was intense. But I did it and I fell in love with it, and so did my best friend. And then we came home and I just basically finished that qualification. It took me about just over six months, right? And then did an exam, got it. Then I had to really push myself and put myself out there, go to all of these studios. I went door knocking with my CV and was just like, look, I've just qualified, but I would really love to start teaching, and I had to do auditions, so then I would, in front of already Pilates instructors, wow, they I would have to do a segment of my kind of class, my style, my voice. And then um, yeah, they were like, Oh yeah, maybe we'll see how it goes. And then I had to keep fighting and fighting. Yes, and so then I managed to get up like a very good client base, and a lot of people were posting me on their Instagram stories when I was doing cover, and then the studios were like, Yeah, okay, we're gonna start getting her on the schedule. Good, so yeah, so that's been currently the last. Yeah, I've been doing that for about a year now.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, that's amazing, Georgia. I didn't know that, I didn't know because I've met you before, obviously, in Everflight Vineyard, and you've come to help with different events, you know, where your mum's running. Um, that's incredible, and it's really interesting to me that you've had or maybe's or not quite yet, or no thanks. There's a lot of that in business and in life. And the way I see a no is a no not yet. I don't really take no's, I don't take them. And I think as you get older, you get thicker skin to them anyway. But if you try to avoid the get in the no, then you never go anywhere. So good for you getting out there knocking on me.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I was nervous, but it was definitely, definitely paid off.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and so where are you teaching now then? What kind of places are you teaching at?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I'm teaching at like quite a few places around Hove and Brighton. But I'm starting to do a lot more of the classes for myself, so I'm hosting one at Everflight in the Tasting Room. That's gonna be super and Babbel. And I'm doing Babbel and Babbel Terrace. That is amazing. And that's really nice. That's in the morning, and we go through like a sea swim afterwards with some coffee. It's really nice. That's sensational. Yeah, but then that's also chucked me into a whole nother sense of just marketing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Pilates instructors at the moment, it's not just that as your job. You have to market yourself and know how to use social media, how to carry yourself into a room and literally be okay with being like, Oh, do you do Pilates? Would you like to come and just say it? And the amount of people that have actually followed through and be like, right, yeah, where do I book? I'm like, Oh, great, this is amazing. But that's you almost have to invite them.

SPEAKER_01

That's really interesting because I think with women in fitness, I think there's um my sister, I mean, she's um she's slim, she's beautiful, she's fabulous, but she's never done much fitness, you know, Pilates gym or anything like that. And it can kind of feel a little bit scary going into a class that you don't know how to do the moves, you don't know who the other women are. We've all got this in us from our past experiences. So I think you, Georgia, because you just bloom loveliness. If you are extending an outreach of inviting somebody to join, then that's actually what they need. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it is really, really daunting for people, especially a lot of people come to me when they're like, Oh, I've just recovering from an injury, I haven't felt comfortable enough to come to classes. Yeah, and people who just the difference from someone walking into the room and leaving just makes me fall in love with the job again and again because they literally leave with the pep and their stare. Yeah, even if I make it incredibly hard and there's many pulses and there's add-ons and they're like, Oh my god, my legs are dead. Yeah, they're literally like, but I've never felt better. And it's the best feeling when they're like, right, I loved it, I'll come back. And then they come back and then you establish this beautiful relationship with people.

SPEAKER_01

I love that.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it's so good, and it's just the sense that you're empowering other women and men that you have men come into the class. More men should do Pilates. Yes, yes, 100%. And there are men that do it, and they are so good and they're so sure of themselves because they come to the class, and I'm like, wow, love that. But it's so good to empower all of these people just through exercise. Yeah, and it's crazy how their demeanour can completely change.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because it makes you feel good. If you look good and you feel strong, it makes you feel good, and it's that inside out again, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. So, what are the next plans for you then, Georgia? Because you said right at the beginning that kind of wellness centre with the um sauna and you know, all of the bits and pieces. Is that something you're looking to create in the future? Is that the vision?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's the vision, that's the dream. So I'm doing the Pilates. The Pilates was always a stepping stone to it. Yes, yeah. I wanted to understand how it works from a fitness point of view, from an instructor. Yeah, and I really want that to be the forefront of it to make a space where everyone who works there or attends has this sense of just overwhelming, like being of themselves, and they feel so seen and their classes run smoothly, the people that they'll leave with that demeanour of being self-confident. Um, I really love that, but I really I take a little bit of a holistic point of view to it. I love that like kind of woo-woo kind of woo-woo. I love woo-woo. I'm not crazy woo-woo, like I'm not like top level, but um, I really think it's really important to not only work your body but your mind as well. And I think they're all connected. And literally, a couple of years ago, I was like struggling with like anxiety, like most teenagers, especially nowadays with social media and stuff. And also, you had a hard time during COVID. That's particularly hard what happened to your generation. Exactly. And I was still working out, I was probably in the best shape I was ever. Uh, but mentally I wasn't there, and you could see it within my friends, within my family, they were like, oh, she's not really the same. And then so then I started with that meditation, starting really looking inside of myself, and I was like, Oh my goodness, I've been looking at this all wrong. It's not about how much weight I gain, it's not how much muscle I grow, it's genuinely how I feel inside will be portrayed out. Okay, and I really want to create a space that will adapt to for both of that, and it just can't like the minute you walk through the doors, your nervous system is just calming because it's so fast-paced. I know, it's so fast-paced, and it's so like life is just so fast-paced. I just want a place where you actually can learn, and it's not just you're there, you do your workout and leave, it's actually how you can bring those habits into your daily life. Yeah, just make you one percent better every day. I'm not looking for a hundred percent, God no, because no one's a hundred percent better every day. One percent, just one little thing that can improve your life and improve others. That's my that's my goal, really.

SPEAKER_01

Do you know what is beautiful? And you're right, because I mean I'm a member of a gym and I'm rushing there to go there quickly before I walk my dog. There is nothing holistic or like peaceful, is it? You know, it's like, oh, he's on the machine I'm on. Yeah, annoying. In fact, I come on and get a little bit hard up like this. I love the idea of that, and um, you guys know um Andrew Barton, celebrity hairdresser well, and he has been talking to me a lot about meditation, and it's something he did on Killer Manjaro on the climb, and he's been practicing for years, and he's a real go-getter guy. Um, but he says he just couldn't operate without that meditation side, that mindfulness, that slowing down, it's the yin and the yang, it's the balance. I'm very excited to see what you build. I'll see you there. Yeah. Oh, I'll come along. I'll come along with my brother. Yeah, I'll come do some filming or something. Please. I do like one of them star below. I'll give it a go. I'll give it a go. I'll love it. So, would you say then that growing up in a home environment where there has been obviously your mum and your dad are business people, entrepreneurs seeing an idea, running with it through the highs and the lows, because let's face it, you've got your beautiful gold awards, you've got your vision, it's not smooth sailing, is it, in business? You know, um, you might have found the plot of land, then something's wrong. There's always an issue. But would you say that they've inspired you, Georgia? Oh, 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I actually probably owe my mindset to my parents. Okay, nice. I've literally from a very young age, I've seen them graft, I've seen them put everything into it. The amount of love and energy they put into Everfly, into everything they go into, yeah, is insane. And also the way that They are problem solving on their feet, but they're also very, very humble. And when you talk to them, it literally they're they're not in your face. And they there you would never know that they have this plethora of knowledge or all of these businesses behind them. Yeah, you just see them as them and these business-driven people, yeah. And literally as living with them, I just see that, and I see that as normal now. How much effort and time it is, like working weekends, like working into the late hours, early mornings, just trying to get things done and over the line.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I definitely think I owe that to my parents of like seeing how the world actually works through a business point of view.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's not just a romantic notion when you've seen the grit that comes with it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And actually, you know, your um beautiful um vineyard and you've got your event space there with the bar. That's on your land, it's in your home, if you like. It's not in your actual home, but your home's just next door. And I think that that's also like a bit of a privacy barrier, isn't it? It's like you're working and you're going across the fence and you've got people coming. It's a lot and it's constant. Yeah, it's it's it's hard. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But when you I feel like when you're a business owner, there is no such thing as boundaries.

SPEAKER_00

We try really hard. Yeah, because it's like when you first get up in the morning for breakfast, and I might have been up a little bit longer than you. Uh no, I mean, I like literally, I try and keep myself like don't ask the question, don't ask where we are with social media, don't ask where we don't get that listen. Yeah, because Georgia does all the social media forever as well.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, so you're learning and doing all of that as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, okay. That's great. It's literally so fun. But then I should also say, like, with setting up your own business, it kind of also stemmed from having the girls. So I've got three girls, so George is the eldest. Right, okay. Who's uh next, and then I've got Eva, who's the youngest, who's just doing A levels at the moment. Right. But it came out of um a need to sort of be there for them after school. My mum stayed at home, she was a homemaker, and I loved coming home and she would be there. Sure. And she'd always have cake or something like that. She was just amazing like that. My dad worked full-time, so I didn't see him as much. But having that consistency, yeah, and when we had Georgia, who was delightful surprise when I was younger. Delightful surprise just as we just moved into a one-bedroom top floor flat in London, then I together, and then we're like, you can't even get a pro in the front door. But anyway, so that just and it just really made us look at things, as you were saying, very differently. We were like, actually, I want to give what my mum gave to us as children. I want to be there. So I did go back to work um four days a week, and my company was brilliant um at doing that, but it got to the point when I wasn't looking after you properly and I wasn't doing my job properly. Yes. And there was one time when you were the last, you were honestly in your key workers' arms, in the nursery, lights out, because I was late because I've been late for a meeting. And I was like, I'm doing neither of these right. So I remember telling my husband and saying, I can't do this anymore. I can't, I'm literally doing nothing that has to be. And he just turned around and went, Oh, thank goodness. Okay. He was doing the drop-off in the morning, I was doing the pickups at night time, neither of us were seeing Georgia. Oh, it's just like this defeats the object. I've had a child, I want to spend time with her. So we um it was tough those first few years. Just Ben was working for another company, and it was just, and then he then set up his own development company, and then I started working that on the side. So I was doing all the things that he couldn't do. So then to the point that when he could leave his job, and then we set up and he went independently. Then I carried on working with him with that company. So I never really stopped work there. Probably, probably for about a year after that. I used to do motherwork in between naps when you were upstairs, you do it, you know, and you do it in the evening. But this was all pre-emails, you know. This is before you had emails and you had your laptop. So when we were in when we'd done the volcano and we were we were in Singapore, this was when we got your dad, your first little tiny laptop laptop. We went up and he started, he was still working for another for another company's company, and so he was doing all his emails and stuff in the afternoon from four to eleven, because that was Australia time. So that was when it you could actually then start properly working from home.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

So you're quite old really when you could actually do that, which is quite interesting.

SPEAKER_01

And I suppose that has really changed the way we can build and grow businesses, and I take it for granted because I've only you know new into my business, and I was a homemaker for a long time with my children and my husband, ex-husband now, Shame. Hi, Steve. Quick shout out. Shout out to Steve. He's um, and I had the time with my children, but had I been able to build or grow, or maybe if I'd had some kind of entrepreneurial role model like you had at that time, um, I would have built and grown something earlier. It's interesting, isn't it? Yeah, and also uh made me think um you were saying when you were dropping Georgia to the nursery, and you know, she sat there and it's night like that mother's guilt of feeling that you're not doing something right or enough, and then to have the other flip side that you've got your work that you're not performing the same at. The question we've been exploring a lot here on these couches for um the champagne series is can women really have it all, and I think there has to be a compromise, and I think that's a beautiful example of compromise for you, um, Sam. However, interestingly, it's led into this beautiful business journey and this well, gold label, you name it, show stopping beautiful wine and everything that followed. It's actually lovely.

SPEAKER_00

Also, it does kind of show you, just thinking about how you've phrased it like that. You're showing it's like quite organic. Yeah, it doesn't happen straight away. Yeah, you do have an idea, like you've had your idea when you're 18, like it and then it takes time, yeah, and it's finding the right time, having the right funds, just be able to get your head around it, how it's gonna do it, and then then ultimately, I guess the beauty is taking the risk, yes, and then doing it. Yeah, and then but watching you how you've laid that out, it's like makes me realize actually this has grown over time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And they're all this, it's almost like a path, isn't it? It's a path and everything's got its knock-on effect, yeah. And actually, you didn't even really know the destination. You didn't know you'd be sat here now and you know, talking about 10 years into this beautiful vineyard, the best wine in Sussex, the best vineyard wine. I mean, this is sensational. All you knew at that time is that you've got this beautiful little baby, you can't do it all, and something's got to shift and it's grown and it's bloomed. And I think that what you've said there is really interesting, Sam, that you take that risk and you've got to have some balls, I think, in business. You've got to back yourself, you've got to believe in yourself. Um, and ultimately you've got to take action. So it's something that I go on about on my socials all the time. I'm a bit here, there, and everywhere on mine, a bit wild. Some days I'm wild, I do wild things. No, I love it. Oh, yeah, go go women power. Yeah, power to the women, midlife shimmer. But you have to move towards your goals. You have to take action towards your dreams because we can have an idea, but you've got to move, you've got to act on it. So, talking about acting on dreams, then, Georgia, let's flip back to you now. What is the time scale of you maybe looking at a premises, maybe joining in partnership? Have you started thinking along those lines for your journey? Yeah, well, we've actually got the location.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Come on, so they do it a bit faster than us now with all this social media and I think that's more that's though, isn't it? Are you going to be selling jam there? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's going to be the only product that we're selling. Okay, good. Where's the location, love? So the location is in Goddard's Green. So it's right by Hearst. Yes, like in Hearst, right by the Sportsman pub, if you know anywhere. I know it really was. So whereabouts? Are we talking down that? Yeah, down Gatehouse Lane. Yeah. So yeah, literally by Exopadel, quick chopping. Another endeavour, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

Hey, that's Exopadel then. We opened a paddle centre. We had um had this idea for a rural, sorry to go off tangent. Yeah, no, no idea to have a rural business park. We've seen that like you see all the business, like the big DPD, you know, depots and all that kind of stuff, they're huge, but actually, there's a lot of small local businesses out there that need premises in a community setting that they can do, make their pizza, make their ice cream, do whatever they need to do, um, which and then come into Brighton to the shop because there's no space here and it's expensive. Um, so we've designed a rural business hub called Gatehouse Hub, and they're smaller units. So we've got really amazing local producers there like Boho Gileto, Bat Your Coffee, to name a few. Um, but then there was two really big units that hadn't hadn't moved, we just weren't going, it's just too big. It just proved our point that you only needed the smaller ones. And as for the next phase, we've done smaller ones again because we just love that feel that we're creating. And so naively said to Ben, I said, Oh, I don't know, paddles everywhere, why don't we give that a go? And then he went, Yeah, that's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_01

And we're talking about paddle with like a tennisy job.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's massively popular, and Ben had been playing it for the last couple of years, and then we look, well, let's go and look at the dimensions, let's go and see what we can fit in one of these buildings. So then we've managed to set up extra, and there's uh seven paddle courts there.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know this. I will put it on the actual. But I'm all arms and legs, mate. Yeah, you'll be fine. I'll just give it a go.

SPEAKER_02

Have you ever played tennis before?

SPEAKER_01

When I was in school, okay.

SPEAKER_02

But it's literally way easier than tennis.

SPEAKER_00

It's easier than tennis. So you can you've got the back wall if it goes out, because I get so frustrated when I'm serving in tennis because it doesn't go in and then you're finished, but you get some amazing rallies, really amazing rallies. I'm gonna come down. I love this. And you could play with your son, he would love it.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, he would as well. So this is interesting to me as well, then, Sam. So you've got this space. What can we do with this space? It shows that actually this entrepreneurial brain, it's it grows and it adapts. You have to adapt, you have to pivot, don't you? Yeah. All the time. What can we do? Well, we'll change that, well, we'll learn from that, we'll implement that knowledge, and we'll put that there and we'll do that. And you keep building and growing and blooming.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think that's more also like dad and I really we're a strong team. We have our strengths, you know. He's very good at the strategic bigger picture thinking. I'm much better at the sort of minute. So, okay, if we're going to do this, what do we have to do to employ this? What's needed? So, you know, we work incredibly well together. Do you? Yeah, and that's together.

SPEAKER_01

And that's your husband.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01

And that's and that's really great.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01

Sometimes they're only coming to say, and then work now, just like the problem talking, maybe talking about work in that home time. Is that an issue for you?

SPEAKER_00

Or yeah, I'm sure. Because you kind of worry that we do. Especially when they all leave home, and we're gonna be alright in trouble.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, as a family, we talk about business a lot of people. We do. I think that's like takes up about 80% of our talk.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sure you do, but then look where it's led. And the other two have gone off down that route as well. Well, then so Ollie's at Durham and she's doing economics and Spanish, she's obsessed with becoming multilingual. Ah, amazing. She's but that's economics has got her, and our youngest wants to go and do international business and management as well. So at uni. She's popping out all these beautiful businesses. I know, I know. Well, hoping one of them will take over one of the businesses. Oh, I know she wants us to take over Everfly, and I love it so much. But what was the line? The most classic line ever. It's your dream, Mum and Dad, not asked.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, then how nice and how empowering, Sam, that you've actually brought up children who don't feel like they have to. How empowering. I love that. There's a lot of young people who wouldn't be able to say that to their parents. That's actually lush.

SPEAKER_02

Well, sometimes, sometimes I give in, don't I?

SPEAKER_01

Sometimes you say, I'll consider the vines.

SPEAKER_02

No, I was out there in COVID dealing with all of the vines because we couldn't really. It was before they said, like, right, you're allowed agriculture, like help. So we were like, we had Luke of in our manager because he was like prime, he was allowed. Yeah. But then I it was just me and my well, I didn't say my sisters.

SPEAKER_00

Well, no, they did try, and then they got burnt and stung and things, and they were like, and I've spared them for life, so they've not had any interest. But as a family, we were all out there that we were all doing the vines and stuff like that under the week and under the supervision of Luke RGM.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. It was crazy. And then did I hear it right? I mean, I was um at your vineyard on Saturday, you had your lovely members event, that you had to put some lights or some heaters or lamps out with the vines. Oh, yeah, because it's been particularly cold. I mean, or you wouldn't think so now, it's sunny as, but it's it's it's been tricky because this winter's been quite mild.

SPEAKER_00

Right. So uh we haven't had we had a couple of cold snaps, but not really enough. Yeah, it meant that the vines came on a lot quicker. Right. So that means that once they come out and they're in buds, they become quite delicate. You know, if you're a gardener, then you know that you protect your when it's frosty, you protect your your your garden and your seedlings and things like that. So as a result of that, we've had a long period where um frost has been a real threat. Right. And last week, I think we did three or four nights in a row. So it's these liquid paraffin sort of candles, they're called bougies, and you put them in every bay. Bougie bougie. Bougie. Yeah, yeah. It's not as bougie as you think. Yeah, bougie, it's not as and you have to follow the uh weather because it comes in like an air frost, you can have um, you can have with you know the temperature for you can have lots of wind, you can have all these different factors, and then you're waiting for the clouds to come over, and then it's fine. Um, I know that the other day they were out and they'd left and it was four, you know, it was fine. We're sorted, and then literally they were driving home and it dropped like literally four degrees, and they're like, shit, oh sorry, look at that. That's fine. You can we had a lovely lady doing the F-word last week. Don't worry about that. Because it really was that because you turned back and they literally managed to get half of it relit again, but there was a bit over the that got it got a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but it was pretty hard for most vineyards at the moment. Last week completely designated quite a few vineyards. So they're like babies, it's almost like you're nurturing these vegan crops. They're really so needed.

SPEAKER_00

So there's a lot of love tender and care you have to do with this. Oh, absolutely. This is the I mean, I think the latest frost we had is end of May, so we shouldn't really be there, especially now with this lovely weather. Um, it's my worst a whole season. I just spent the whole time you go, I open the door, we'd like to let the dogs out, and I'm just like, it's cold. Oh god, okay, it's getting.

SPEAKER_01

And there's that worry because actually, if you don't um look after these needy plants, these needy vines, then they won't produce the grapes that you need to get the beautiful wine and to get the profit from all this work that you're doing. Yeah. Wow, love that. I like our little, I like where we go, but I don't want to come back. Oh yeah, sorry, yeah, we weren't completely. Yeah, yeah, that's you don't think to you, Georgia. I'm gonna play paddle, your mum's gonna look after the needy plum. I want to know about your premises.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, exactly. I'll go back to mine. Um, the place, well, I'll tell you the brand name. This is this is a little tivot, you know, no one really knows, but it's called fettle and birch. Oh, fetal and birch. Love that. So fetal is basically meaning of strength, like growth, healing, and the birch. We just I love the fact that when you cut through a tree, you have all of the knots and all of the lines that are in it, and they all connect and they all form this beautiful strong tree. And they're never linear, they're always like here, they're everywhere. And I looked at that and I was like, that is like a person, and when you nurture it, you do water, you look after it, yes, sunlight. So that movement, that brain, and the mixture between the two. Then you grow into this beautiful like tree. I have to give props to my mum. She did come up with it. So I came up with a much better description than that. But my description, so mum came up with it, and then I did like fetal and birch. She came up with fetal and birch. Very good. I think the whole thing was like, oh, there was birch trees on the well, they're local.

SPEAKER_00

There was birch trees on that, and they're my favourite trees. I love a birch. They're my favourite.

SPEAKER_02

And then I looked into it and I found it was like the perfect name because I was like, this is the most health and wellness name that I could think of. It feels like something spin it out.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it does feel like to me, like something that is health and wellness that already exists, you know. I mean, it doesn't already exist because it's yours, but it sounds very high end as well. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to go for. Good. Well, you're in the right area because let's face it, Sussex, Hurstbare Point, we've got some beautiful families, beautiful people. You want to be able to cater to everyone who's maybe got the time and the affluence to be able to come and enjoy all of the different things you're going to be offering. Yeah, exactly. But come on then, what we having?

SPEAKER_02

What we're having at Fritto and Beach, come on. So there's going to be a cafe gym section. There's also Pilates studio upstairs. Uh split in two sort of two separate rooms. Um, one can be like full of yoga, like hit sessions, anything and anything, sound baths. And then we have the two change rooms that lead into a sauna and an ice bath. Yes, obviously, had to include that. Of course you do. But the idea of it is just as I said previously, it's like joining those two together and leaving with a sense of calm and sense of tranquility. Um, but I'm looking for more like, right, how do we get those habits in your daily life where you want them to be? So, like understanding people's sleep schedules, nutrition, all of this is massive, massive impact. And everyone thinks, right, I'll go to the gym and I'm healthy. And I'm like, no, let's take a step back, let's see, like peel back the layers and understand you as a person and why you function the way you are. Because you look at all these social media posts, the perfect morning routine, the perfect evening routine. That is not one size fit all.

SPEAKER_01

Well, we're so different, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Different ages, hormones for us, women, men's bodies are different to women's bodies, like there's so much to so much, and there's also just like how people work. Some people really um early morning people, they are they are most productive, they're zoned in. Yeah, where some people are more like in the evening, night owls, and if you don't if you're working against your body, you see this person's 5 a.m. morning routine, you're right, let me try that. Instead of you becoming the best person of like of yourself, first version of yourself, yeah. You then turn in like you get burnt out, you get tired of your body. Yeah, you'd get right present for if you don't want to do it. And then you're just like, and then it you those habits never stick because they're so out of who you are.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So then I want to allow people to see who they truly are and work with their bodies rather than against it, and get that schedule that makes you feel amazing, but you're not holding to a certain type of person.

SPEAKER_01

So it's kind of like not just a beautiful space for wellness and physical activity, it's kind of like a hub of discovery.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01

Where you can come and learn about you and find out what suits you. And how are you gonna be um how what what does the business model look like then, Georgia, for where you're at now? Will it be like a membership where you're a member, you can use all the different areas? Yeah, it's membership based for now.

SPEAKER_02

Well, there'll be dropping classes where you can come in and use the class and maybe just a section for gym if you just want the gym, because we know that some people aren't into that whole woo-woo side of it. So we want them to have that ability to use the space if they want to. But if you want the membership, then it will incorporate all of this and you'll become a better version of yourself.

SPEAKER_01

I think that's beautiful. Well, she's gonna be running on. It's a work in progress.

SPEAKER_02

And she's stepping in for us as well. You know, this is the other thing. I know. This is what you said actually the other day. You were like, Thank god, you're not moving away.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because this can happen, can't it? Oh, it does.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, like my family miles away.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and she could have um, Georgie, you could have met somebody in Australia. I know.

SPEAKER_00

It's my worst. That was her worst, but she actually not allowed. I said if you even think of meeting Australia and you're done.

SPEAKER_01

She said, Yeah, I oh no, no, no, we're not none of them.

SPEAKER_00

No, no. I don't think Tom would have been either that. I'm lucky.

SPEAKER_02

I'm Mum's very happy I've got a boyfriend in Brighton. So she's like, okay, yeah, post-home sorted going to Australia.

SPEAKER_01

I was I love that. So with your um is it fetter and birth? Yeah, fettle and birth. I feel like I already know. I can like I can see it in my head. When are you opening? Have you got a launch? Have you got it? Are you a year away, two years away? How's it all working out? So with like it hasn't been built yet.

SPEAKER_02

So we've got some time. But we've got permission for it, so it's already out in the abyss. Good for you. So just currently I've just finished a business course on just how to start up a business. So I've just finished that, been studying that for the last bit of a year.

SPEAKER_01

I love it that you're studying as well, and you're not just learning on the hop and asking mum and dad, you're doing all that important groundwork, you're going to be a very successful business woman, George.

SPEAKER_02

That's that's the hope. That's the hope. Yeah. So yeah, just finished that. So got the certificate and everything, and now just doing my business plan and trying to do that, which is a lot, because obviously I've never done anything like this before. So I'm taking my time trying to make sure I'm really portraying what I want for this place.

SPEAKER_01

And not getting knocked off course. This is something else because you're gonna get a lot of problems and it will change you. This process will change you, and your mum and I will know from being mums and and and older in life that things do knock you off guard and knock you off track, and you can kind of forget yourself along the way. I really recommend documenting the journey from now on social media, on a fetel and birch social media. I don't know if you're already doing it. Am I turning?

SPEAKER_02

I've got some behind the scenes for I want to make like yeah, I do want to go.

SPEAKER_01

It's like an absolute story because what people love more than anything. Is joining along the story. They don't actually, they're not going to be happy for you when you're there, all gorgeous at your finished studio. They don't want it. They're not going to be happy for you. But if they're part of the story and they see the mud and they see you doing the late nights doing the study course, and they see you in the hard hat, and they see the disappointment when the builder messes up because he will at some point. The builders are going to do your head in at some point, right? If they if you need anyone, I'll come and shout and I'll make a good shout out. Call you up. Yeah, just call me out. I'm only down the road. Don't worry about it. But people like to be part of the story, and if they feel integrated, they will join and support you. So I think that's probably quite an interesting thing for you to do.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, definitely. It's also this crazy thing of starting in public. Yes, yeah. Which I do my own, like I do a Pilates account, so I've been doing social media on that, so it's not new to me. Yeah. But um, yeah, this whole opening yourself up to this vulnerable side. Um and people can be vicious.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, honey, they're awful. I got, I mean, I get they are awful. I you want to look in some of the comments on mine. What did they say to me? I got um, I was trying to inspire the women. What was I saying? And I was walking through the woods and I've got my dogs behind me, and I was saying, you know, what you really need to do in life is just take action towards your dreams. Um, it's really important that you do this. And then somebody put on the comment, yeah, what you really need to do in life is stop putting so much filler in your face.

SPEAKER_00

It's so brutal, it's so brutal. Oh, rude. They wouldn't. And this is what you have to remember. Yeah, yeah. Really struggle. Yeah. Put on there what you will say to someone's face.

SPEAKER_01

And I've got a lovely friend, um, Annie, she'll be coming on the podcast at some point as she's health and fitness. Um, Annie Sten in Pilates. Um, not Pilates. No, that's how she saved in my phone because I met her at Pilates class. Anyway, Annie Fitness Stening. Um, and um she's 55, yeah, um, and she's so strong. I think I shared her account with you for you to have a look at it. Yes, oh yeah. And she showed me the last time we met this message from this absolute pig of a man. I mean, I can't even repeat what he said, it was absolutely disgusting. And he's just some weirdo who's decided to tell her everything that he sees is wrong with the texture of her skin and you old this and you hold that. I mean, like it, and it will affect you, and it will affect you until you learn how to deal with it and it doesn't. But I think that if we show our real selves and you keep locking into the vision for Fettel and Birch, then this vision is wellness and actually what you are inside and being happy inside, that is what's gonna sell. Yeah, and that is who you are. So it's almost like it will help you be the practice of what you preach. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Nice with your you're doing a Pilates one Instagram that you have today.

SPEAKER_01

What's your Pilates Instagram if people want to follow along, Georgia? Georgia.lis underscore. I follow along. There we go.

SPEAKER_00

Georgia.llis underscore. Yeah, okay. Who's right? And you've got a few like brands being interested in you, and okay, good.

SPEAKER_02

So this people, yeah, it's but then it's just hard work though. It's really hard work. Yes, and it's just constantly reaching out to people and just making sure you post stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I'm very lucky that I haven't had too many hate comments or anything at the moment, which is quite nice. Yeah, good. Um, but I feel like actually, you've got I now recently know this because I also help with the exopadel um Instagram. And actually, weirdly, hate comments actually help you get your views and get your video pushed out. They're they're actually those hate comments are make are making you new shoes. I'm just saying for the hate comments.

SPEAKER_01

People would give you the hate. Yeah, then your cheerleaders have an argument. Yeah, and this comment makes Instagram think, oh, this is a good post, everyone's commenting. You're getting great engagement. I'm like, right. Bring it on, baby. Keep commenting, keep commenting. I love it. So I can see I'm looking at the countdown clock. Time just goes so fast here in the studio. I just wanted to um, Sam, maybe ask you was there a point in your entrepreneurial journey where things didn't go as planned and you had to work on the hop really quick, you and your husband, was there a time when things were were particularly difficult? I mean, I'm sure COVID was probably not the best time for you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, COVID was tough. Mainly because we didn't know what was going on, we didn't know what we no one knew what was going on. Um that was hard. But I came to the conclusion quite quickly that if I could look after the people who worked with me and keep them employed, and if that's like a dozen or so people that I'm keeping in a job and keeping going forward, then that's my contribution to it. So to do that for quite a long time without knowing, without having any wine to sell at that point either, yeah. Um, that was I came to that conclusion. That was right, that was that was how we kept going, I think, yeah, during COVID. Just keep watch your world, and if that's a little bit further and includes more people, then that's that's why that's my contribution.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and you're helping and supporting. And actually, really interesting what you've said there, because with the vineyard, you've planted uh vines, you've got it all growing, you're nurturing it year on year. How many years does it take for them to provide fruit that you can use to make wine?

SPEAKER_00

So we got a really small harvest off two years after, right? But we decided, which has been sort of pivotal in our whole of our wine-making process, is we put it all into reserve. Right. So we saved it, so we didn't release anything, we weren't gonna make a 2018, we waited to 2019. Okay. So you're talking four or five years before. And then you don't want to overstress the vines either. So you can only have small harvests is things like increasing slowly. Okay, so you just have to pat it down and let it grow. Yeah, you've got to let it get strong because if you let it develop too quickly and you take too much from it, you pay for it further on down the line. So we've always been really careful not to overstrain the vines, and now they're really they're really healthy, good-sized, you know, vines that we've got growing up.

SPEAKER_01

You've mother nourished them, you've looked after them then.

SPEAKER_00

To be fair, with a lot of help. You know, I've surrounded myself with lots of amazing people who have helped Ben and I along the way, like Luke, our GM, we've got all our background hand staff who have all been helping us, and I learned on the job. I literally was like that, and still now every day I learn something new. I just think it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01

That is that is again the entrepreneurial journey. Yeah, we will never know everything, and actually, you've got to be willing to learn and grow as you go. I think that's so true. So, with um Everflight, if people um wanted to join as a member and they wanted to be part of your um club or they wanted to come and just maybe have a little wine tour, a vineyard tour, how would they go about that? Have you got a website, Sam?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we've got a website, obviously what George does the Instagram. Um but we've just opened for the first time this year, so we're open every Saturday and Sunday. Oh, lovely. It's like 12 till 5, um, and we do tours every Saturday at midday. You just buy a ticket online um and you get a tour, then you come back, you get to try three glass, three different types of ever flight sparkling, you get cheese platter, and then you get a bit of wine talk. So it only takes a couple of hours. But then if you don't want to do that, we have a wine flight, you pop in, you try three, we'll give you a little explanation for each one of those. Or you just want to come sit and drink English sparkling in the sun, hopefully. Uh it should be looking like that this weekend. It's gonna be the lovely this weekend. So we're actually open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday this weekend because it's bank holidays.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, oh, that's really good as well.

SPEAKER_00

So we're just trying it out and it's been really popular. What's really done is we've had quite a few hen parties. Have you? They're great five. They're great for the drinking pop, they're really happy, they're happy. That's we should get hen happy, get a married school of friends around us, it's perfect. So we've had quite a few um hen parties seems to be coming in.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I tell you what, I'm gonna keep you in mind when I get my next husband. Oh my god, yeah. I'll come down. We'll have a we have a wedding. I mean, also the other thing to say, you've got your beautiful space, it's an event space as well, Sam, that people could hire and and have. Is that something you're doing?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, that's what we do. We have um we can you can do weddings, but you have to be um it's in a field and you get a TP, but it's all there, um, which is lovely. So we're like festival vibe kind of wedding. How nice. I've never had one of them.

SPEAKER_01

No, try that. I've done a few different types of heels.

SPEAKER_00

That's all I'd say.

SPEAKER_01

So just flats.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. That's beautiful. And then we've got our membership, who are the membership have been lovely because a lot of them have been with us from the beginning. They've come with us all the way through. They've come on the journey. You know, you're talking about setting up the journey for Vettel and Birch. I mean, that's what the members have done. They've come from the beginning. Their first wines, a lot of them were friends, and now have become friends. Um, and we had an event with them on Saturday night, and we had lots of people turn up and they were so lovely. And we did a portfolio tasting from the first wine to the last wine, so you could see how it's changed over the years. And also, we had our new wine that we just launched as well, which is Wild, which is a Charmot method, not a traditional method. Um, and that's doing down really well. And that is exactly Babel helped with that because we just sort of spotted this gap in the market for a you know, not as expensive glass. It's lovely to be able to have English sparkling, but it's not accessible to everyone. And no, that's right. And so we're like, well, why can't we do that? Why can't we have a and it's a beautiful blush pink colour, isn't it? The wild called wild, yeah, and it's uh and it's going down a storm because it's it's quicker to make because it's Charmett method, not traditional method, and it's much more fruit forward, very easy to drink, and it's to be drunk now in the sun. And we're calling it our Provence style sparkling.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

It is very easy to drink. I came to the launch.

SPEAKER_02

It was very it's a summer drink. It just goes deep. It's a summer drink.

SPEAKER_01

It's yeah, it's my favourite.

SPEAKER_00

It was drinking. I'm loving it. It's not everyone's cup of tea, that kind, you know, English, everyone, you know, this is lovely, obviously. It's a beautiful drink. But it's everyone has different tastes, and that's what I always say when people come and do wine tasting or something like that. And they're like, oh no, I'm not sure if I like it. Am I alright to say if I don't really like that? I was like, of course you can. Everyone's palette is different. If you can taste something, just tell me what it is, be expressive. Yeah, it doesn't matter if you like it. That's the most important thing. But if you don't, but you might like this one. Oh, yes, I like this one more. And it it's you know, and you all end up having a little favourite ever flight, which is lovely. Oh my goodness. Yeah, isn't that lovely?

SPEAKER_01

Right. I'm gonna move on to these questions, ladies, because we're on short time scale now. I could talk to you. I think we need a part of the. No, season two season two catch-up. So I've got three questions here. I'm gonna ask the first one, I think, to um let's ask it to you, Sam. So, what is a truth about your life that most people would never guess?

SPEAKER_00

I get really nervous at social events.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Really nervous.

SPEAKER_01

Um, that's to the so these are social events that are happening in your um beautiful bar, in your event space.

SPEAKER_00

And going to parties, anything like that. I have to really cite myself. There was a time when um I got really um, I think I was overwhelmed, I'd been burnt out, and it was for me, COVID was actually it came as a blessing because I was trying to find ways of not going out. And then all of a sudden I had COVID and I didn't have to go out. Oh, we could go out there, could we? And actually, I then stay at home and I got spent four months straight at home, and it really helped me kind of get my head around the fact why don't you want to go out? What what what's making you nervous and things like that, and then to put things in place so before an event or something like that to help me get through and just the inner work, yeah. And the biggest thing I found is um, and I even say it to Ben when I come in, I'm like literally I've been to an event, don't talk to me, it's my time to recharge. I need to recharge my battery because it's dead, my social battery's gone. Yeah, and if you want me to try and be back on form, I need to go and disappear for a couple of hours and we always know. So I go walk, you always know, walk the dog, do pilates, do some exercise, uh watch telly, whatever it is, I literally take myself away and you all know, don't you? I'm just like I I just need to recharge. And that's something that's come with age, actually. As I've got older, it's a it's a bizarre one. I never saw that one coming because I was always incredibly social when I was younger. Yeah, and I it was just getting harder and harder.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because the line between probably work and social has changed a bit. And yeah, do you know what you're absolutely right? And the amount of work and business you're getting in, and actually your work, both of your work, is very social. I mean, it's with people, it's you know, you're talking about the wine taste. And tell me what you think about the wine. You know, it's not behind an office, um, in an office, is it behind a computer? It's a lot interesting. Thank you for sharing that, Sam. And actually, I think you'll find that there's a lot of women who, when they enter into midlife, they're in business, they do, you know, or not in business. Hormones, I think, have got a lot to say for these things. And also, we just start doing that inner work to explore ourselves. And what worked may not necessarily work now or in the future. It's really great. Um, so yourself, Georgia, where did you oh this is quite a grown-up older question? Let's see if we can where did you abandon yourself during your life's journey? And how did you come back? Was there a time you felt like you'd abandoned yourself, you'd let a part of you go?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, um, I feel like actually weirdly, you say it's a grown-up conversation. It's like a question, but actually, I feel like I'm in a very pivotal time in my life where actually I've probably changed and switched course and probably abandoned certain port parts of myself throughout the way a few times now. I would probably say recently, like I would say a few years ago, where I was just like, I got very like in my head, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And I feel like with everything, when you're coming of age, you have as almost on the book book ends of it all, hormones are starting to become more prevalent. They're very like the world is very quick changing. And I definitely think I abandoned myself and my values and what I wanted to do when I was literally going through that anxiety like phase where I was just I all I cared about was just like not doing anything and just like literally probably very similar to you, like literally trying to like come back into myself and reconnect. And I definitely think like this happened like quite close, like leaving like work, school, even and I definitely think like getting ripped from school so quickly. Yeah, I had to leave my childhood really, really quick. So like I was chucked into that into the big bad world world, yeah, and I got completely pulled out of it, didn't say goodbye to my teachers, didn't say goodbye to like some friends, some I haven't spoken to since, and I didn't actually have that book end of ending of school. And I feel like being chucked in that deep end, I really like lost that sense of um fluidity and carefree and all of that kind of side of it, because I was like you couldn't prepare for it to end preparedly big goodbye and here's what's next. How interesting. Then I just had to be like, right. I as I described it to mum a few times, like you were on this path in like a forest, let's say, and then the forest forest gets quite thick and the path stops just really abruptly, and then you look back, the path isn't there anymore, you can't go back, it just doesn't work. So then I remember just being like in this forest, and I was just like, Where do I go next? And I couldn't re like I couldn't regress back to my childhood, and I feel like I had to really let go of that that like hold of school and that like adolescence time where I was just like it was all fun, like once I got my homework done, that was it, you know. Everything was done. Yeah, like nothing was done. I didn't have to think of anything, could just chill, and I had to let go of that really, really quickly. And I definitely think that took me a while to understand where my path was.

SPEAKER_01

Well, isn't it? It's really interesting because we kind of think in life that we have to go from one thing to the other and we have to have it all worked out. I'm so glad you did that inner work at that time and you took the time to reflect and discover who you are and what you wanted to do. And I think that's a really great bit of advice that can come from this this series is it's all pivots, it's all movement, it's all part of the journey, and actually doing that inner work, understanding yourselves is so important for you to actually arrive at the right destination the other side. Yeah, exactly. Beautiful, right? Oh, 23 seconds. The countdowns are um if there is a woman, very quick answers, sorry guys, if there is a woman who's watching this and she's feeling stuck where you guys once were, what short piece of advice can you tell her? And it's not necessarily what she needs to hear, okay, but it's and it doesn't have to be what will sound nice. What would you say to somebody who's about to start their business for say? Trust yourself.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, trust it. Okay, trust yourself. Just trust yourself, yeah. Trust your inner gut feeling. Okay, trust yourself, don't listen to all the noise that's going on around you. I think it feels right, but just trust yourself.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, okay. I love that. That's so powerful. And what about yourself? Somebody who's um, you know, younger generation looking to go into business.

SPEAKER_02

Mine would be like comparison kills joy. And I would really try and step away from what other people think, what other people tell you, what you see on social media. Yeah, you could see someone's end of their highlight reel, and they've made it, and you think it could be so easy and accessible now, they've gone through the grit, they've gone through the grind. You don't see that part of it. Some people are trying to show that, but even then, you're filming it, you're still acting like you know you're on camera, so you're acting different, and especially with how accessible social media is at the moment, and I would say comparison is the hardest thing. And once you can understand that and you can come in on yourself, be like, right, no, I know I can do this in my way and not let what other people say or live, like look at how an end goal of them is your now. Yes, I would say that is really, really important. Just concentrate on you, concentrate on your goals, and then you'll get there in the end. That's what I'm telling myself. Obviously, I'm not there yet, but trying to like enjoy the journey. Trying to enjoy the journey.

SPEAKER_00

Sorry, say all the time. And most of the time, too, you've done the journey and you've missed it sometimes. Yeah, and you loved it, and it does go fast.

SPEAKER_01

Goes so fast. I have got no doubt in my mind that you're gonna arrive at your destination, Georgia. And it's been such a pleasure sharing this time and space with you. Like sincerely, it really has. And we're gonna have to do a part two. We're gonna have to, we're gonna have to hear more because we've got too much to talk about.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's too many things, too many roads.

SPEAKER_01

Isn't it? Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. I'm just gonna bring this interview on camera, the bit number one. You've done it, we're all at it all the time.

SPEAKER_02

I'm almost done.

SPEAKER_01

I think that's why it's been brilliant. I think we're all pretty much the same. But this is the gorgeous award-winning Everflight wine, sparkling Sussex wine. They've been absolutely fantastic. You've met the behind the scenes, the family, and it's a family production. And I am so pleased to have had you here today.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01

Bless you. Great host. Thank you so much for listening, for watching, and um see you next time on the Champagne series. Thank you. Bye bye.

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Lucy Black

Host